The Core Conversation: Who Are You, Really?

Every great identity needs a strong anchor. Before we even think about visuals, we start with the core conversation. This means getting to the heart of your business: understanding your values, defining your mission, and mapping out what specific problem you solve for your customers. If we know who you are and who your ideal clients are, the design process becomes clear.

My Mission & Vision

I launched Maria Designs because I saw a need in my community. I take the strategic skills I honed in the corporate world and apply them directly to local, passionate small businesses. My goal is simple: to make beautiful, effective branding and marketing accessible to driven entrepreneurs—especially women and BIPOC business owners—so they can stand out and thrive locally.

Design Research: Getting to Know Your Neighbors

Before a single color is chosen or a font is selected, I roll up my sleeves and dive into the market. This phase is about doing the homework: I check out how your competitors are showing up, study the packaging designs that genuinely stand out, and track the current visual trends. While I gather inspiration from everywhere, every creative decision I make is firmly rooted in your core brand strategy. This ensures the final design is not only beautiful but also truly authentic and relevant to the people you want to reach.

Maria Designs Brand Style Sheet

The Toolkit: Creating Your Visual Guidebook

After the research phase is complete, it's time to translate those core concepts into a solid visual system. I put together a Brand Style Guide—think of it as your brand's official handbook. This guide brings all your elements together: your final logo and its variations, the specific color palette (and the feeling each color conveys), the approved typography, and the defining adjectives that capture your brand's personality. This step ensures that your brand speaks with one consistent voice, everywhere.

Logo Mockups

The Main Mark: Your Signature on the World

When designing the central logo, I focus on two key things: approachability and staying power. I created the primary logo using professional tools like Adobe InDesign to ensure it's not just trendy, but timeless and easy to recognize, no matter how small it appears (on a business card, or a favicon). I deliver a complete system, including primary color versions, the reversed option (for dark backgrounds), and the classic black-and-white version—guaranteeing that your signature looks perfect wherever you need to place it.

Design Application and Collateral

Putting It to Work: Showing Up Consistently

The grand finale is launching your brand into the real world! This is where I apply the new identity across all the materials you need to run your business. From the foundational assets like business cards to your digital storefront like your website and your presence on social media, I make sure every single customer touchpoint is cohesive, consistent, and undeniably you.

Project Overview

I was brought on board by Fresh Fare Farms to develop a multi-channel advertising campaign that could be easily adapted across various marketing platforms. The core objective was to launch their meal kit service while highlighting their commitment to sustainability and community support.

• Expand the Customer Base: Reach a younger demographic of busy professionals.
• Educate on Value: Inform consumers about the benefits of locally sourced food and sustainable farming practices.
• Drive Community Action: Highlight their partnership with Hunger Action Month, where sign-ups lead to direct donations to local food banks, providing an easy way for customers to help their community.

Project Overview

For this design project, I was tasked to design a catalogue for a temporary artist’s exhibit at the Metromoheim Museum. The final result was a colorful art exhibit brochure for artist, Colette D’s, “Portaitry and Flora Fusion” exhibit. This catalogue was designed both for print and digital distribution in Adobe InDesign.

Design Rationale

I used a modular grid structure for the layout of this catalogue which I designed in Adobe InDesign. I wanted some variety in layout from page to page exploring symmetric layouts and then asymmetrical and playing with white space as well so that the Artist’s photography could really shine and be the focal point.

I really wanted to elevate this design by using different composition techniques. After reviewing the client brief I began ideating and putting together a rough mockup, I organized the images with the thought process of which looked good together, ones that I thought would standout well on their own, and how I wanted to organize the copy.

I used balance, symmetry and asymmetry in each page. Balance & symmetry helped organize the images and text in a pleasing and easy to digest way. For some simpler spreads, I used asymmetry (example: PG 4&5) to add a bit more visual interest.

I created a feeling of movement through the yellow lines and blocks I used consistently throughout the catalogue as well.

Image Attributions

• “A Woman With Curly Hair and Purple Flowers on her Head” by Sour Moha is Free to use under the Unsplash License.
• “A Woman in White Dress Holding a Green Leaf” by Megan Ruth is Free to use under the Unsplash License.
• “A Woman With a Leaf on Her Head” by Igor Rand is Free to use under the Unsplash License.
• “A person wearing a flower crown” Filipp Romanovski is Free to use under the Unsplash License.
• “Topless Man near Yellow Leaves” by Altin Ferreira is Free to use under the Unsplash License.
• “Topless Man with Gold and Green Floral Headdress” by Altin Ferreira is Free to use under the Unsplash License.
• “Man in black shirt with white flower on ear” by Eve Maier is Free to use under the Unsplash License.
• “Woman in black coat wearing eyeglasses” by Nickolas Nikolic is Free to use under the Unsplash License.